During my sophomore year of college, I had a great opportunity to volunteer with an amazing organization called Habitat for Humanity. Now most people have heard of this global community benefit organization, but at the time, I didn’t know that they had a Fresno branch. When the sign-up sheet got to me, I wrote my name down and was thrilled to take part in my first experience with this organization!

That service event is now a great memory and my relationship with Habitat for Humanity has only grown from that day. Since then, I personally have completed four more volunteer opportunities with them, and opened the door for my friends from church to volunteer with them as well! As rewarding as helping friends volunteer with Habitat is, the best part is working with the organization’s beneficiaries.

Over the past two years, I met two families who were in the process of building a new home. One family had four members–a mother, her two parents, and her son– and was living in a two-bedroom apartment. The elderly parents needed their own bedrooms for health reasons. While the other two, mother and son shared the living room couch as their bed. This family had very little and all the money they had went to rent and health care for their aging relatives. A group of us went to help this local family put dry wall up in their home where we met some of the nicest people I’ve ever encountered. The mom, who played many roles such as mother, daughter, and caretaker, kept telling me, “Michael! You’ll like helping so much you’ll come back and help me build the rest of my house!”

This past Saturday, September 16th, 2017, Habitat for Humanity in Clovis had its ReStore Community Day. This is an opportunity for you, your friends, neighbors and relatives to help in an easy and simple way. If you’d be interested in signing up for future events, the link can be found on the Habitat for Humanity. The ReStore sells donated items to those in the community at a discounted rate. All proceeds go to helping our local Habitat for Humanity branch with funding, so they can continue to provide the goods and services to people like the family I met. Go and help your local neighbor!

When was the last time you helped someone who couldn’t repay you for your service?  How do you feel when someone helps you out when you need it most?  What does it feel like to support others in your community?

–Ambassador Michael

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